HÀ NỘI — One of Việt Nam’s most recognisable musical voices, Composer Đoàn Bổng, has passed away at the age of 83, leaving behind a rich and significant musical legacy.

Best known for the enduring Dòng Sông Quê Anh, Dòng Sông Quê Em (The River of Your Homeland, The River of My Homeland), Đoàn Bổng leaves behind a vast and influential body of work and a reputation as an artist profoundly rooted in his homeland, the country and Hà Nội.

He was born in 1943 in Hà Tây Province, now part of Hà Nội. At the age of 23, he became the only candidate from the capital to pass the entrance examination for the Composition Department of the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music, now the Việt Nam National Academy of Music (VNAM). After graduating, he worked at the Liberation Radio Station before moving to Việt Nam Television during its early years, following the trial phase of broadcasting.

Throughout his career, Đoàn Bổng was closely involved in developing numerous music programmes across a wide range of genres, including folk music, chamber music, revolutionary music and contemporary music. His catalogue includes more than 300 songs covering many themes, with three central pillars standing out: the homeland, President Hồ Chí Minh and Hà Nội.

He was the writer of three particularly celebrated songs – Dòng Sông Quê Anh, Dòng Sông Quê Em, Hát Về Người (Singing about President Hồ Chí Minh) and Hà Nội Những Kỷ Niệm Trong Tôi (Hà Nội, the Memories Within Me) – works that helped earn him the State Award for Literature and Art in 2023.

For Đoàn Bổng, music was first and foremost an emotional language.

"I never write with reason; I only write with emotion. Music guides people to return to their roots and to beauty," he once said.

He travelled extensively from north to south, drawing inspiration from people, landscapes and the simple details of everyday life.

Hà Nội remained his richest source of creativity, reflected in a series of compositions such as Hà Nội Của Tôi (My Hà Nội), Hà Nội Đêm (Hà Nội Nights) and Từ Hoa Lư Đến Thăng Long - Hà Nội (From Hoa Lư to Thăng Long – Hà Nội), among others.

In addition to music, Đoàn Bổng was also a poet. His poetry collection Bắt Đầu Từ Đôi Mắt (Starting from the Eyes) was published in 2023.

Several of his works were adopted as traditional songs by major organisations, including Bài Ca Mặt Trận Tổ Quốc (Song of the Fatherland Front) and Khúc Quân Ca Trường Sa (Military Anthem of the Spratly Islands).

His song Từ Làng Sen Con Hát Bên Người (From Sen Village, I Sing Beside You) is frequently performed at the Hồ Chí Minh Presidential Site in Kim Liên Commune in the central province of Nghệ An, while his poem Niệm Khúc (Requiem) was selected by the Ministry of Public Security to be engraved on a stone tablet at the Security Historical Site of Area 5.

He was also the only writer whose three songs – Hà Nội Những Kỷ Niệm Trong Tôi, Hà Nội Của Tôi and Thành Phố Ngàn Năm Văn Hiến (The City of a Thousand Years of Civilisation) – were chosen by the Rouen Symphony Orchestra of France for performance at the Hà Nội Opera House and the Việt Xô Friendship Cultural Palace during the 1,000th anniversary of Thăng Long-Hà Nội celebrations in 2010.

Đoàn Bổng’s passing marks the loss of a composer whose melodies helped shape the modern musical memory of a nation. — VNS